Day of Reckoning

Day of Reckoning (or DoR) is a comprehensive expansion for Heroes of Might and Magic III, designed as a continuation of the classic expansions and akin to Horn of the Abyss.

The project aims to complete the story of the Heroes III game by introducing elements tied to the Reckoning event, the cut Forge content, and fill story gaps such as, for example, what Adelaide did during her stay in Vori or what happened between Dragon's Blood and Clash of the Dragons. In the spirit of the official expansions, it adds new features that both reference other Might and Magic elements and increase the depth of the gameplay, aiming to stay true to both the canon of the universe as well as the design philosophies of the game. The Forge-related elements are designed in consultation with Heroes III lead designer Gregory Fulton to stick as close as possible to the original concept and intent of the faction; including the ability to disable it outside of campaign maps.

Just as Armageddon's Blade introduced elite units (the Enchanter and Sharpshooter) and The Shadow of Death introduced combination artifacts, Day of Reckoning introduces alternative units in the fashion of Heroes of Might and Magic IV. For example, a Palace town can produce either Nisse or Vikings, but not both. Pre-existing factions also get alternative units, such as Dryads for Rampart and Wood Elementals and Metal Elementals for Conflux. Pre-existing neutrals such as the Enchanter and Sharpshooter will be added to certain factions—not to recruit—but to fit in lore-wise and to negate the morale penalty with mixing factions.

A few elements have been derived from previous works of members of the team, such as the Tides of War mod or some of the Mod Design Team (MDT) towns. Any such element, however, has been reworked to fit better with the concept of the expansion.

Unlike the most In the Wake of Gods-based mods that add new towns, Day of Reckoning's new towns are added to the game without replacing any existing towns. The mod requires Shadow of Death or Heroes of Might and Magic III Complete to run.

Plot

Despite the mod isn't out yet, some lore snippets were already showcased. The first one was Gelu getting to Vori, and meeting with Falagar there in the first DoR teaser.

Another one was Catherine sailing to there as well from Steadwick, since she received an invitation from the Snow Queen, but the former starts to feel that something is wrong when she gets to Vori, in one of the latest teasers.

The Forge campaign will be likely based on the campaign ideas NWC had for the scrapped Forge.

Features

Towns

• Palace -- good-aligned, Vori elves, nisse, and vikings
• Grotto -- neutral-aligned, the dark elves and gnomes who guarded the World Tree and were exiled to Jadame before most of the events in Heroes 3. Has a town building that boosts heroes' spell power, in the same way as the Necropolis has a building that boosts Necromancy.
• Forge -- evil-aligned, the dystopian perversion of the Heavenly Forge by Kastore. The Forge is optional and can be toggled on or off before each match. It has a war machine focus, with replacements for existing war machines, a coilgun (presumably instead of ballista) from the basic blacksmith and another from a blacksmith upgrade, which is not decided yet between howitzer (catapult replacement?), ammo cart replacement, or first aid tent replacement.

Terrains

• [Grotto terrain]: a dark loam-like soil.
• [Forge terrain]: a polluted wasteland, with a slightly greenish tint.

Creatures

Alternative Creatures	Palace Creatures	Grotto Creatures	Forge Creatures	Neutral Creatures
Templar and Paladin	Nisse and Tomte	Arachne and Crimson Arachne	Grunt and Foot Soldier	Triton
Dryad and Oak Dryad	Viking and Einheri		Cyber-Dead and Cyber-Zombie	Light Elemental
Simurgh and Astral Simurgh	Ice Maiden and Yuki Onna		Pyro and Pyromaniac	Dark Elemental
Succubus and Lilim	White Tiger and Sabertooth		Stinger and Bruiser
Necropolis_1_name	Snow Elf and High Elf		Jump Soldier and Jump Trooper
Illithid and Alhoon	??? and Yeti		Tank and Heavy Tank
Berserker and ???	Kirin and Sacred Kirin		Juggernaut and Dreadnought
Fortress_1_name	Valkyrie
Wood Elemental and ??? Elemental	Frost Giant and Jotun
Metal Elemental and Magnetic Elemental

Heroes

Palace Heroes		Grotto Heroes		Forge Heroes
Jarls	Oracles	Wardens	Sorcerers	Cyborgs	Technicians
Sil-Gandir	Falagar			Codgur
Deedlit	Jinara
Ruprecht	Igrod
Vol	Andross
Larn	Numas

Secondary Skills

• Balance changes to Eagle Eye.
• New skill: Initiative, give a bonus to a selected creature's initiative at the start of a battle. Common skill of Jarls, and Oracles have a good chance of learning it.
• New skill: Vitality, gives a bonus to creatures' health. Common skill of Wardens, and Sorcerers have a good chance of learning it.
• A new "campaign skill", presumably by opposition to the faction skills above being "combat" skills.

Campaigns

• [Camp_1]
• [Camp_2]
• [Camp_3]

Miscellaneous

• Dozens of new map objects, including:
  • More terrain-specific variants of existing map objects, such as snow-covered versions of the Sanctuary, Witch Hut, Imp Cache, new Seer's Hut variants, some new Forge-fied objects, etc.
  • Fortified walls and garrisons themed after each town faction.
  • Flaggable buildings that increase a secondary skill (e.g. Offense or Resistance) of all allied heroes, in the same way as lighthouses increase movement points at sea for all allied heroes.
  • New banks, including with new types of reward, such as increasing mana.
  • New spell shrines, including for specific spell schools or spell types instead of spell levels.
  • New types of Treasure Chests.
• Several new artifacts, including the Sword of Frost. New sets of artifacts, or even combination artifacts, themed after each faction, old and new.
• An entire new engine, Basilisk. The engine allows moddabilty.
• Some of the features from HD mod will be available in DoR.
• A search function for spells and artifacts.
• Keyboard shortcuts for spells.
• A zoomable map.
• New optional water shader for the water terrain.
• New spells for each school. The new Water and Fire spells will be overall more powerful than the new Air and Earth spell, to balance out Air and Earth being overall more powerful in base Heroes III.
• Potentially new road types, based on a hint that "asphalt and concrete and all that stuff" can have "other applications than a terrain".

Maps

Gallery

• 
  First look at Vori. Palace town, Rampart garrison, new creatures artifacts and map objects.
• 
  Viking longhouses in grass and snow variants.
• 
  This building is said to increase your heroes' Offense skill globally.
• 
  A snow terrain variant of the Seer's Hut
• 
  Redesigned Conflux town, with walls and garrison, and a circus tent.
• 
  Conflux walls, ice mountains, snowy variants of buildings, Templar and Frost Giant.
• 
  Yuki Onna, Sabertooth, High Elf, and Yeti battling Metal Elementals and their upgrade.
• 
  Yuki Onna, Sabertooth, High Elf, White Tiger, and Vikings battling Swordsmen and Crusaders.
• 
  More snow-covered variants of various buildings. The heads of mystery units appear at the bottom.
• 
  Rampart creatures, including the Dryad, battling Nisses and Tomtes.
• 
  Ice Maidens, Yetis, White Tigers, and Einheri battling Ogre Magi.
• 
  Palace, Forge, Grotto, Paladins, Forge units including Naga Tank, Pyro, seeker droid.
• 
  April's Fools 2024. DoR assets used in a Heroes IV scene.
• 
  April's Fools 2024. DoR assets used in a Heroes IV scene.
• 
  A teaser that shows Ice Maidens in the arrow tower.
• 
  Adventure map screenshot from a promo video, showing a Palace, Forge's polluted terrain, a few units.
• 
  Adventure map screenshot from a promo video, showing the underground terrain of Grotto.
• 
  Mock battle screenshot from CD Action, showing various Palace and Grotto units, including a Yeti doing the Bigfoot walk, ethereal wolves pulling the Valkyrie's chariot, and the special attack effect of the Vori High Elf.
• 
  The Palace town screen from the H3GG contest.
• 
  The Forge town screen from the H3GG contest.
• 
  The Grotto town screen from the H3GG contest. Just a teaser, most of it has been obscured.
• 
  A battle screen from the H3GG contest. Castle vs. Forge units.
• 
  Adventure map screen with a Grotto and its native terrain.
• 
  Adventure map screen with a Palace and its native snow terrain.
• 
  Screenshot from the H3GG contest preview. Glowing light effects, Conflux garrison, water objects.
• 
  Screenshot from the H3GG contest preview. Water variants of Sawmill, Sulfur Dune, and Wood.
• 
  Screenshot from the H3GG contest preview. Grotto and Forge, with their terrain objects, creatures, and dwellings.
• 
  Screenshot from the H3GG contest preview. Better view of Grotto, Palace, and Forge objects and creatures.
• 
  Screenshot from the H3GG contest preview. Final scene of the preview, with Valkyries and the two swords of the Reckoning.
• 
  Low-level Forge units fighting Gremlins.
• 
  Forge terrain and map objects.
• 
  New mossy rock mountains for the Swamp terrain, including a rock arch. A Stinger can be seen guarding the Gorgon Lair.
• 
  Updated first look. Several updated graphics, removal of the off-shore platform, Courtyard's mandrake replaced with mushroom unit.
• 
  Forge units attacking a necropolis held by Tower units. A gremlin Saboteur is casting Disable Construct on the Iron Golems. In the spell bar, an icon that looks like the Reconstruction spell from the Courtyard mod for VCMI.
• 
  Subterranean battle between Grotto and Dungeon. The lizard-rider unit was not shown previously. In the spell bar, an icon that looks like the Pacifism spell from the Courtyard mod.
• 
  More Grotto and Forge things on the map. In the Forge corner, a new version of a magic shrine.
• 
  Chart shown on the Legacy of Heroes video (15:51) showing the tiers 5, 6, and partially 7 of the Forge and partially the Stronghold.

External Links

English links

• Official Heroes Community Thread
• Official Facebook Account
• Official YouTube Account

See Also:

• DoR pre-release content